Iran says missile efforts defensive in nature

Iran’s missile program is defensive in nature, says Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast in response to the US military buildup in the Persian Gulf.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mehman-Parast criticized the US deployment of new warships and anti-missile systems to the Persian Gulf, asserting that Iran’s plans for missile development have always been designed to promote security and stability in the region.

Mehman-Parast added that efforts to create a sense of “Iranophobia” in the region will fail because “history has shown that our presence in the Middle East has always been the key to regional peace and stability.”

Commenting on reports that some Arab countries in the region have agreed to host US anti-missile systems against Iran, Mehman-Parast responded, “Iran has strong and strategic relations with regional countries that are deeply-rooted in history. We believe that closer ties among neighboring states are the best way to secure regional stability.”

The New York Times had reported Saturday that Washington was increasing and upgrading its military hardware and combat equipments in the Persian Gulf — supposedly to defend regional countries against possible Iranian missile attacks.

For years, Washington has sought to portray Iran’s uranium enrichment program and missile development as threats to regional stability.

This is while the Islamic Republic, since its establishment in 1979, has gone to war only once, to defend itself against the Iraq-imposed war in 1980. The United States, however, has waged more than 17 military interventions in the past decade, two of which were full-scale wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, waged in 2001.

Regarding the deadlock over Iran’s uranium enrichment, Mehman-Parast said Western countries should not use the required fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radio medicine for cancer patients, as a means to put pressure on the country.

He said that more than 850,000 Iranian patients are at risk because they desperately need to receive a wide range of medical products and treatments that the Tehran reactor can facilitate.

Mehman-Parast said the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) should start using their common sense when dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.

“A more sensible approach by Western countries towards Iran is the quickest way out of this deadlock,” he added.